


Heart's Desire

by Merfilly



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 18:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1275940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The tale of how a fisher caught a wife... or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Plight for Troth

**Author's Note:**

> The OFC is original because Anne, as usual, failed to name the walk-on part of Alemi's wife. Despite bearing at least four kids for him.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elgion tries to learn Alemi's feelings on the matter.

Elgion found his only true friend in the hold setting out in a dinghy before the dawn.

"Alemi," the harper called softly to him, keeping his voice low in case Alemi did not wish to be caught out. The sea holder turned and beckoned for Elgion to join him.

"You're dressed for the sea," Alemi observed.

"Thought I'd seen you passing by dressed for it, knew your boat was in for refit," Elgion admitted. "May I sail with you, Alemi?"

"I'd like that, Elgion."

`~`~`~`~`

They'd sailed mostly in silence, but Elgion was certain there was much to be said behind the face of his friend. 

"You've said little on the matter of your father's latest demands," Elgion finally said, once they'd settled just off the Dragon Stones.

"Not much to say, is there?" Alemi asked.

"You've a right of choice!" Elgion exploded. "I can think of nothing worse than to be told to marry a woman, just to secure fishing territories!"

"He is my father, and he is my Holder." 

That seemed to settle the matter, so each baited lines and set in for fishing as the skies lightened around them. Elgion pushed it around in his own mind, trying to find the right way to suggest arbitration on the matter, something to postpone the catastrophe looming. Just as he thought he might have the words, though, Alemi spoke.

"There is none I would wish to wed, in all the women I've ever met," he began slowly. "My… tastes don't run toward those comforts and duties."

The harper, so accustomed to listening for words unsaid, looked at his friend and took a deep breath. "You are not happy, but you know you may not be happy, not in Half Circle Seahold, with its traditional manners?"

Alemi looked at him, nodding once. "No more than Menolly ever could have been. But I am not as strong as she, to run away and be my own person. I must fish, I must sail… and Holder Yanus could take both from me, if I dared breathe that I'd prefer to head for Tillek or Ista to be part of their fleets."

"So you accept what you must, to maintain your heart's desires?" Elgion pressed.

Alemi hesitated, then nodded once. "Most of them."

The silence fell thickly again, and this time Elgion had other matters to consider, for he wondered what else Alemi wanted.


	2. Ship Sighted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elgion's thoughts as the ship of his friend's bride makes port

Elgion saw the boat coming into port from one of Nerat's sea-holds. He did not let on, continuing through the lesson of the day. Not one of the children under his tutelage had a calling toward music; Petiron's lost apprentice seemed to have taken all of that with her when she ran from the hold.

He idly wondered if she were a happier person now, free from the hold that had reviled her talent. He wondered if she were the first person on all of Pern to make a better life for herself by running away.

He had a job to do, and that meant pushing those thoughts away. He had only signed on for a twelve-month, and was already halfway through that. Sea Holder Yanus would likely dispense with his services, given that the man never listened to any of his suggestions.

That would be in their best interests, perhaps. This Hold was steadfast in their duty to the Weyr, if a bit blind to ways to improve their quality of life. Nor were they so isolated as to be without some influence from the more modern thoughts seeping through Lemos and even Benden, for all that Lord Raid was as ancient as the rocks of his hold.

He glanced over at the sandtable, one he'd hoped to lay aside all his ill will and misgivings with by composing a marriage ballad for Alemi and his bride-to-be. She was undoubtedly on board the ship that had just come in as the wedding was due by season's end.

No doubt, he would just rely upon the traditional march for the wedding, because even now, his heart said this was wrong, stealing joy from one man, and potentially ruining an innocent woman's life and chance of happiness.


	3. But to Ask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It dawns on Alemi that maybe he can talk to his betrothed.

Cathey was an engaging young woman, and pretty, but Alemi found himself looking at his joining with less and less enthusiasm as the days passed. Granted, he'd only had duty-borne enthusiasm to begin with.

Yet, that was the crux of the matter. This wedding was for duty. Just as they'd fostered several likely boys to Nerat Bay, this match was to solidify the ties between Half-Circle and Nerat Bay. Each of Alemi's brothers would have to make a match for gain, as Sella herself was promised to a boy from Ista to broaden the trade in that direction. Yanus was a hard-working man, with a mind to ensure his hold was passed on with strong alliances in place.

Alemi wondered how Cathey had taken the news… and something in that pondering made him hesitate. What if like his sister Menolly, Cathey had opinions and ideas of her own that had been tossed aside? Could he and his bride-to-be make their future work in a way that allowed each some freedom of choice?

* * *

Though she was accustomed to a sea-hold life, Cathey had found Half-Circle somewhat jarring. They were far more quaint in their ways, with a stronger segregation of duties. Granted, the climate here was more blustery, and catches were struggles when the squalls would sweep up. The men stayed fairly tired, working on keeping their ships and gear in tip-top condition between fishing runs, or doing a bit of hunting now and then. Mostly the children were the ones supplementing the fish with their daily forays between Threadfalls.

"Cathey?" Alemi called softly, breaking her concentration from the cloth she was mending.

"Alemi." She managed a smile for him, wary of why he would come to find her outside of a meal. Their wedding was set for the next storm day, for Yanus would not give up a fishing run prior to it.

"Walk with me, please."

Cathey obediently put away her work, nodding at the Auntie she had been partnered with for today's work, and left to walk alongside her betrothed. He guided them to the Dock Cavern, leading them to the farthest edge of it. The only reason he was not at sea was because his ketch was still being repaired from being struck by the storm wrack of another vessel, dredged up by the unseasonable storms out past the Dragon Stones.

"Here. We are in sight of several, but far enough to talk in private," Alemi said, showing an awareness of propriety that she found as quaint as the gender biases in this hold.

"I don't think any would impugn your honor, Alemi, from all I have heard so far." Cathey meant it; she'd heard nothing of Alemi's pursuits off his ship, with not a rumor of a Hold sweetheart being passed over in favor of this marriage.

"The Sea Holder has expectations of all of us," Alemia answered that, making Cathey frown just slightly. Was there no family warmth here? She had seen that Sella was detached from Mavi, but Sella was also of an age to put away childish manners and could be difficult. Was it an adult rite of passage, to see the parents as no more than the offices they held once grown?

"I am learning this," she answered neutrally. 

To her surprise, Alemia sighed and rubbed his face. "Would that I had a way with words as my sister…" he muttered. He then looked at her and let his features go very serious. "You have taken this match because your father wishes trade rights, as mine does, yes?" At her hesitant nod, he answered it in kind. "I do not wish to be unkind, and will not be… but my heart is not in this, nor do I suspect yours is. That said… I would like to have a chance to become your friend, of such a manner that we can discuss what it is in our hearts, and perhaps chart a course that allows for both of us to reach the destination we seek."

Cathey's eyes went wide, before she had to try and gather her wits about her. "And you say you do not speak well. I've never heard Sella…"

"Not her," Alemi cut in, swiftly. "I've another sister, though Yanus and Mavi both prefer to forget her despite the honor she has accrued." He then forced a small smile. "One of many tales I would share with you, if my offer holds promise for you?"

She took a long moment to consider. Was he seeking to sow his urges elsewhere? No, she did not get that… or perhaps. But either way, he was speaking to her her, frankly, and offering mutual satisfaction in the end.

"I will accept this, Alemi."


	4. Seas of Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The wedding happened, and now, a talk.

With the wedding past, Alemi took Cathey to the small dinghy he and Elgion had shared many days in. There was a faint taste of betrayal in his soul at that, but it would be too unusual for him to choose a different one. Even now, though, Alemi remembered how formal and distant the harper had been in making their joining official.

"It's expected to go spend at least a few hours together, alone and away from the Hold," he said in a light voice, because Cathey was a pretty woman, full of quiet wit and fortitude from what he'd observed.

"Some even spend a whole night, though I can see how the Sea Holder might not wish to lose his best fisher and captain that long," she told him with a smile of her own. She'd doffed her wedding gown for trousers, something that made Alemi appreciate her more, even if the hold seemed shocked by a full grown woman doing so.

Menolly had often worn trousers too. The similarity suited Alemi, though he had no mind to make a sister of his wife, even in his mind.

They set off, and Alemi set course for a beach he'd known all his life, away from the hold and most of the foragers. When he beached them there, he busied himself making a comfortable place to spread the blanket and talk.

"Let me help," she said, and he did not protest. If this worked, they would be partners in much, and maybe there would even be love, in time.

Shortly, they were reclining back on a blanket, finger foods at hand, a skin of Tillek white to celebrate the marriage near, and there was silence. That needed to be broken, and he turned to face his bride.

"Cathey, I have never known just what to say or how to act around women. I got on well with my sister, the one who is gone, but she was never a proper girl, by the hold's reckoning." He watched her face go from polite listening to quiet empathy, and it warmed his soul further. "I do not want you unhappy. I do wish to be a proper husband to you, grant you children if that is your wish, but…."

He found himself struggling for the words, to tell her the result of his contemplations. She reached out and covered his lips gently. 

"Alemi, you are honest and a good deal more caring than many a man my father could have chosen. I wish to find our friendship first, as you offered. But if your desires do not run to women… well, we've had a few boys go to the Weyr, and they ride fine blues now."

Alemi's eyes went wide as she grasped just what he'd not been able to say aloud. Shards but he'd barely been able to admit it to himself! "I mean no disrespect, my wife."

"That you can call me that already and that you are so honest puts truth to your words, Alemi." She smiled for him. "I will be patient, and if we are to have children, we shall. Until then, I shall do all I can to preserve your dignity and honor in our Hold, and do nothing to bring shame to you."

Relief colored the sigh he let loose at that. "I suppose we shall have to convince Sea Holder Yanus that taking a crew to Gather here and there is in our best interests, yes?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

She laughed at that. "Gather loves are seldom caught for long, yes!" She then tipped her head to one side, contemplating him. "Do you already have someone you fancy?"

Alemi sobered completely, and could only nod once.

More to her credit, she chose not to press, and instead turned the conversation to safer courses.


End file.
